Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Philippines announces 1.4 million jobs created

The Philippines government has announced that they have created 1.4 million jobs through their anti-poverty efforts. The National Anti-Poverty Commission made that announcement today, while introducing an upcoming forum.

The government's anti-hunger program has created job opportunities for nearly 1.4 million unemployed and underemployed poor Filipinos, according to the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC).

NAPC Secretary Domingo Panganiban said new jobs were created through the expansion of microfinance services, the construction and maintenance of farm infrastructure, coconut intercropping and aggressive rice seeds subsidy, and skills training programs nationwide.

"The creation of jobs for hungry folk is among the primary objectives of the Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program (AHMP) and we are pleased to say that our efforts to ensure jobs for the poor have been successful," he said....

NAPC Assistant Secretary Dolores de Quiros Castillo said the government's microfinance program had already created over a million new jobs for the poor as of July last year and another 292,372 poor Filipinos were trained for higher paying jobs through the government's various skills training programs.

Some 38,507 rural workers, meanwhile, found new earning opportunities through the Coconut Intercropping Program of the Department of Agriculture while 10,761 were hired for irrigation project and another 26,326 Filipinos were put to work on roadside maintenance projects.

The figures were based on the 2008 AHMP accomplishment report that was submitted by the National Nutrition Council to the NAPC.